Grading Canada at the 2010 Winter Games

How did Canada measure up in competition at its home 2010 Games in Vancouver-Whistler? It’s time to hand the marks:

1. Alpine Skiing

What was expected: Medals are hard to get in alpine because there are so many talented skiers chasing them. Canada came in with a number of skiers hurt, but still, on the home hill, was one medal too much to ask?

What was delivered: Not much. Except for Erik Guay and Britt Janyk, they really didn’t come close. Nobody got to the podium. Guay came fifth in the downhill and the super-G, while Janyk was sixth in downhill.

Own The Podium funding: $3,474,503

Expected grade: B

Final grade: C-minus

2. Biathlon

What was expected: Head coach Geret Coyne said before the Games he felt his team could get one medal. It didn’t. But you could hardly fault them.

What was delivered: Jean Philippe Le Guellec was the star of the team. He finished sixth in the sprint, the best Olympic result ever in the event by a Canadian man. He added an 11th in the pursuit and a 13th in the individual event. The men’s team was 10th in the relay.

OTP: $310,000

Expected grade: C

Final grade: C-plus

3. Bobsleigh

What was expected: The Canadian sledders were expected to deliver a medal in each event. The two women’s sleds, Kaillie Humphries with brakeman Heather Moyse and Helen Upperton with Shelley-Ann Brown, were both solid. Lyndon Rush and Pierre Lueders gave Canada two men’s medal threats

What was delivered: The women were stellar with Humphries and Upperton driving to the gold and silver medals, respectively. Lueders finished fifth in the men’s two and four, while Rush pulled out a bronze in the four-man.

OTP: $2,194,061 (shared with skeleton)

Expected grade: B

Final grade: B-plus

4. Cross-Country Skiing

What was expected: We expected to be close in a few events, but no cigars. This isn’t the women’s hockey team after all.

What was delivered: A spectacular effort. There were a number of top-10 finishes, including one of the unsung Games highlights — the three top-10 finishes in the men’s 30-km pursuit by Ivan Babikov (fifth), George Grey (eighth) and Alex Harvey (ninth). Devon Kershaw and Harvey finished fourth in the team sprint and, on the final day, Kershaw was fifth — missing the podium by a little more than a half-second — in the 50-km mass start.

OTP: $1,183,280.

Expected grade: C

Final grade: A-minus

5. Curling

What was expected: At every Olympics two medals in curling are pretty much expected from the Canadian men’s and women’s rinks.

What was delivered: Gold and silver and it should have been gold and gold. Kevin Martin earned his gold. Cheryl Bernard let the Swedes score two to tie it in the 10th and force an extra end. Sweden won in the 11th.

OTP: $1,078,500

Expected grade: A

Final grade: A

6. Figure Skating

What was expected: Two medals were a reasonable expectation. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir were a near certainty in the ice dance, but Patrick Chan had been fighting injuries all year, the pairs weren’t really medal ready and Joannie Rochette was capable but in tough against Yu-Na Kim, Mao Asada and a strong field.

What was delivered: Consistency and gold from Virtue and Moir and a remarkable performance by the amazing Rochette, who somehow managed to win a bronze medal days after her mother Therese had died of a heart attack.

OTP: $716,000

Expected grade: B

Final grade: B-plus

7. Freestyle Skiing

What was expected: Canadians were expected to do well in moguls and perhaps add a medal in men’s aerials.

What was delivered: A strong showing. Heil didn’t get the gold, but she got silver. A day later, on Sunday, Feb. 14, Alexandre Bilodeau delivered that first golden moment, winning the men’s moguls, lifting the piano off the backs of every other Canadian athlete at these Games. No medals in aerials, but three Canuck men — Steve Omischl, Kyle Nissen and Warren Shouldice — made the 12-man final.

OTP: $2,076,000

Expected grade: B

Final grade: B-plus

8. Hockey

What was expected: Two gold medals.

What was delivered: The Canadian women swept to gold. The only time they were challenged was when they were caught partying at centre ice after everyone else had left the building. The men scared the bejeebers out of the country, but Sidney Crosby won it in overtime.

OTP: $2.6 million

Expected grade: A

Final grade: A

9. Luge

What was expected: Deep down there were hopes that an Alex Gough or a Regan Lauscher might somehow find a way to the podium.

What was delivered: A tragedy not a medal. A young slider died in a crash. The course was altered to reduce speed. Any Canadian home-hill advantage disappeared. Lauscher led with a 15th-place finish. Sam Edney was seventh. The Moffats, Chris and Mike in doubles, were also seventh.

OTP: $680,000

Expected grade: C

Final grade: C-plus

10. Nordic Combined

What was expected: Are you kidding? At last season’s World Cup in Whistler, the Canadian team stayed with friends and hitchhiked to and from events in the Callaghan Valley.

What was delivered: Canada had one man in Jason Myslicki. Let’s spare the details and say he finished near the bottom.

OTP: $35,000

Expected grade: D

Final grade: D

11. Short Track Speed skating

What was expected: If Canada was going to own the podium, this sport had to step up and deliver.

What was delivered: After a slow start, Charles Hamelin earned a gold in the 500 and helped the relay team capture gold. The women picked up a silver from Marianne St-Gelais in the 1,000 and a silver from the relay team.

OTP: $2,467,796 (shared with long track)

Expected grade: A

Final grade: B

12. Speed skating

What was expected: See above. Same deal. The team was strong, particularly on the women’s side.

What was delivered: Denny Morrison didn’t medal in either the 1,000 or 1,500. The women’s team pursuit, No. 1 in the world, missed the podium. Christine Nesbitt took home gold in the 1,000. Kristina Groves skated to a silver and bronze in the 1,500 and 3,000, respectively, and the remarkable Clara Hughes earned bronze in the 5,000. Morrison and the men surprised with gold in the team pursuit. OTP: $2,467,796 (shared with short track)

Expected grade: A

Final grade: B

13. Skeleton

What was expected: Canada expected at least one medal in the men’s and women’s event.

What was delivered: At first it was disappointment. Then came triumph. Mellisa Hollingsworth finished fifth. Then Jon Montgomery lit up the nation with a gold-medal run. He fist-pumped. He jumped onto the podium. Then he led the nation on a beer-fuelled walking tour through the streets of Whistler, one of the Games’ magical moments.

OTP: $2,194,061 (shared with bobsleigh)

Expected grade: A

Final grade: B-plus

14. Ski Cross

What was expected: It’s hard to have expectations in a sport making its Olympic debut, but let’s take a shot. With Ashleigh McIvor leading a strong women’s team and Chris Del Bosco leading a strong men’s team, four medals weren’t out of the question. A year before, the men swept the World Cup Olympic test event on the same Cypress course.

What was delivered: In a blizzard, McIvor delivered the gold. But that was it. The men failed to reach the podium as Del Bosco finished fourth.

OTP: $1,190,000

Expected grade: A

Final grade: B

15. Ski Jumping

What was expected: The nation pines for the days of Horst Bulau. Nobody in their right mind would have expected a medal from Canada’s ski jumpers.

What was delivered: They did the best with what they had. Let’s face the truth: without funding, without facilities, without much support, it’s unfair to ask athletes in sports like ski jumping and nordic combined to deliver. Stefan Read led the way, with a 46th on the large hill. Canada placed 12th in the large hill team event.

OTP: $82,500

Expected grade: D

Final grade: D

16. Snowboarding

What was expected: A big mess at Cypress? Well of course, but somehow the severely challenged venue managed to stage all its events without moving any of them to Whistler, Mont-Tremblant or Kathmandu and Canadians fared remarkably well. Half-pipe, with the strength of the Americans, presented a challenge, but medals were expected in snowboard cross and parallel giant slalom.

What was delivered: Quite a bit. Between snowboarding, freestyle and ski cross, Cypress served the Canadians well. North Vancouver’s Maelle Ricker won gold in the women’s snowboard cross. Mike Robertson, of Canmore, earned a silver in the men’s event and then Jasey-Jay Anderson, in his fourth Olympic Games, finally stepped onto the podium by winning the men’s PGS .

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